


Game of Bunkers

by Miss_Black91



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Gen, Hostage Situations, Kidnapping, Love/Hate, Minor Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Tension, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Black91/pseuds/Miss_Black91
Summary: They wake up in rooms that are not theirs, they don't know where they are and they have no idea how to escape. Can they find out a way to run away without destroying themselves?[Adding tags as the story gets completed].





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own in any kind of way A Song of Ice and Fire and/or Game of Thrones, even if I would kindly appreciate having the next book before I die.

Her head was throbbing like crazy. It wouldn't stop. Boom, boom, boom... It was like a full heavy metal concert inside her brain, full volume, best sound system ever, and that wasn’t funny because it was hurting like crazy. She had a hard time opening her eyes, had she been drinking last night? She had no memory of that. She had finished reviewing some papers at home, had something to eat and just went to bed. When she finally could open her eyes, she saw that everything was dark around her. Her body hurt, her eyes were kind of itchy, she was tired as she thought she never could be again, not since she finished college. Slowly, she tried looking around her again... No, she could't see a thing. Was she blind now? Was she home? What was going on? Sansa used her hands to feel the walls around her. It came to her pretty quickly, she was not a slow kind of girl. Not all the time.

She wasn't home.

Okay, no panic. There was no time to panic. Her heart was beating really, really fast, and she felt her hands shaking, but there was really no time to panic. Where was she? What happened last night? She just went to sleep in her own pretty bed and... What happened after that? She kept feeling around her and she finally found the light switch. She turned it on and the realisation smashed her. Grey walls around her. Her room looked like a prison that she had seen on TV. A bed. A desk. A chair. That was it. And a door. Sansa tried to stand up and she almost fell to the floor -she was way too weak for that. What happened to her head? What happened to her memory? She couldn't focus her sight anywhere, she felt dizzy as hell.

She just wanted to cry. She wanted her mother to hug her. She wanted her father to tell her that everything would be alright. She wanted her brothers and damn hells, she even wanted her annoying little sister Arya.

There was a glass of water on the desk, she noticed. And a note. Slowly, she stood up again and walked to sit on the chair. The note said "drink, it's just water and you really need it". That was the cherry on top, the maniac who had closed her inside that hellish prison actually cared about her health. She didn't cry. She wouldn't cry. She couldn't cry. She had to be strong, because she was determined to be strong enough to get the hell out of there. Even if she had no idea here the hell she was yet. Eventually she decided not to drink the water and walked to the door of the room. The door wouldn’t open.

“What the…?” she whispered.

_ “Drink the water, please.” _

“So that's it, then? You won't let me open this door if I don't drink the water? Is that it? Or what? It will kill me?”

There was no answer. Obviously. She sat on the chair again, looking at the glass. She smelled it. Nothing strange. And she really, really was thirsty. Should she drink it? Should she, really? There was nothing else she could do. If they wanted her dead, she would already be dead... right? Right? Oh, damn. Maybe the maniac just wanted to see how she killed herself... There was no way to know that. She took the glass, closed her eyes and just drank the whole glass without thinking much about it.

_ Click. _

Sansa looked at the door. That was it? She only had to drink? That was all she needed to do? She walked quickly to the door and opened it. She saw a long hallway with a lot of doors, and a number in each door. She looked at her number. 206. Did that mean something? She had no idea and she had no time to think about it, she wanted to get out of there. Three other doors were opened, the rest were closed. Okay... Right or left? She was closer to the turn on the left, so she walked there. The room 201 had been opened too, she peeked inside and she didn't see anyone. The room was exactly like hers, there was nothing different. It really seemed like a prison. There weren’t even windows, so she didn’t know where they could be. There was another glass and another note. But. Wait. She wasn't alone? 

Slowly, she kept walking the corridor, one hand on the wall, and she found... The toilets. Well, that was certainly interesting. Did she need to go? She was so tired she really had to ask herself about it. She decided that trying wouldn't hurt, but her mind changed when she opened the door. Four toilets which maybe were white once upon a time, but now they were a mix of browns and greys and she didn't want to look for more colours because that was enough, thank you very much. She approached the sink to see if she could get some water. Well, at least there was that. They actually had water in the toilets and it didn't smell like a dump. Maybe the toilets only needed a good, deep cleaning...

“Excuse me,” a voice behind her, she had been so into her own thoughts and so tired that she hadn't heard the steps. It was a tall, huge man with long hair, but she did not get to see his face as he just got inside one of the toilets and closed the door. “I gotta pee.”

“Y-yes, of course -she left the whole room.”

That had been a nice introduction. Was that the man who had left the room 201? Were there more people? She waited outside. She heard the flush but she didn't hear any water running. When the man stepped out, she looked at him and then straight to his hands. There was no answer from him, just a grunt. He turned back and went to wash his hands. She had seen his face, which was pretty thin compared to the huge rest of him, and half of it was burnt. Had he got grey eyes? She thought so. Probably yes, they were absolutely grey.

“Hm. I'm Sansa. Sansa Stark. Could I ask who you are and if you also just woke up here?” she asked as calmly and politely as she could when he finally finished.

There was another grunt before an answer.

“Yeah. Sandor,” his voice was rasping, as if he wasn't very used to do a lot of talking. “And yeah, just woke up here. I'm gonna kill the bastard who closed me inside this place.”

´He started walking the corridor and Sansa followed. He was going to the same turn to the left that Sansa wanted to take before, so that was good. His face was familiar, she thought, but she couldn't exactly tell where had she seen him. It was really hard to tell. But the man was huge and he looked strong enough, so he was a good bet if she ever wanted to get out of that place. She would be the brains. They finally turned left and they saw a huge, grey, sad room with grey sad columns around it. It looked like a parking lot. There were plastic tables with plastic benches around it, some bookshelves full of old books, something that looked like a kitchen in a corner and... A man.

Was that.

Yes it was.

It totally was.

_ Jeoffrey's grandfather. _

She really had to get out of there.

The man was sitting on one of the benches, looking positively tired. It didn't look like it in that moment, but the man was tall and imposing. He was in such a disarray that he didn't look like himself, and it was strange to see him like that, with his tie half undone. But he was the same man she remembered from years ago.

That was another story. For another moment. She couldn't get into that because then it would be worse. She had been pushing away the thoughts about being held captive in a prison, bunker, whatever, away from her family and now she also had to keep away those thoughts that she didn't want to get into her mind. She wasn't a teenager anymore. She wasn't going to allow memories to harm her. She needed to be strong, or she would look weak and you couldn't look weak, because if you looked weak, then the lions would have you for dinner. And the father of all of them was in front of her.

“Mr. Lannister?” she heard Sandor in front of her, asking. Tywin Lannister looked up and saw them. He looked surprised, even if he tried to hide it, and he did try.

The man looked at them, as if he was studying the situation. He stood up but remained silent, his deep green eyes focused on them both. Sansa could actually feel his brain working, she could see it as if it was naked in front of her. He was one of the richest men in the world. People (her father) said that the man had more money that he could actually count, and yet, she had never seen him smiling.  People talked about it, of course. They talked about his wife, about her death, and about how much he loved her. About how she was his whole world. About how his life seemed to be meaningless after that. It sounded like a nice, romance story that Sansa would have believed when she was fifteen years old, innocent and before the grandson of the man in front of her destroyed her whole innocence.

Sansa had a hard time believing that that was all there was to it. There had to be something else, something behind it. He had three sons and two beautiful grandsons (and there was also Jeoffrey). He had Cersei by his side, learning how to run a business because one day she would have to do it. She didn't know a lot about the other two, but... He had what looked like a nice family, right?

“I am going to be straight. I haven't found a way out yet,” Tywin said, matter-of-factly, looking at Sandor and clearly avoiding looking at Sansa. “I have looked around the place, and there is only what you can see. Anyway, I suggest that we wait just to see if more people appear, and then we try looking for an exit again.”

“I'm gonna take a walk now,” Sandor stated. “Can't just stay here.”

“Clegane, you-”

“Brienne! There are more people here!”

Saved by the bell, as someone, somewhere would have said. A blond, short girl with violet eyes appeared. Her face was also familiar to Sansa, maybe from the news. Behind her arrived the woman called Brienne, and when Sansa saw her her jaw fell to the floor. She was the tallest. Really tall. And she looked strong.

“Fucking hell, what's that?” she heard Sandor's voice behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I've already drafted an outline for some chapters and the second one is written and only needs to be revised. I hope you liked it! 
> 
> (I've got some ideas about the characters that may end up paired up, but I'm not sure what they will want to do and I do not dare ot ask just yet. I don't even know what Sansa wants to do, or who she wants to do.)
> 
> (If life allows me, I'll try and post once every two weeks or, if I can, more often.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were trapped, nobody knew where they were and they didn't know who had closed them up there. That was much more interesting that pointing fingers at each other. The story continues as they start knowing each other.

"What do you exactly mean by 'what's that'?" Brienne demanded, as Sandor was clearly looking at her, mockingly. Sansa could remember on her own body what that was like and she didn't like to see that on others. She didn't know if it would affect Brienne the same way it had affected her in the past, but she felt for her. It wasn't easy being different. It couldn't be easy being... that different. Certainly. Not that Brienne looked bad. Damn, she was making it worse and she hadn’t even started speaking, how was that even possible?

_ Brain, shut it. _

"Hello," Sansa said, cutting the conversation as she saw that things would get tense. "I'm Sansa. Sansa Stark. Who are you?"

"Oh! You're that kid! Ned Stark's daughter!" Daenerys exclaimed. "Your father exploits the loyalty of his workers in order to get richer and richer every year, right?"

Her face still looked familiar, but she didn't know where she had seen her. She talked like she owned the place and, for the little that she had been able to see, she moved like that, too.

"That's what you get for trying to play nice," Sandor snorted. Sansa already hated a lot of people in that room but she wasn't going to point fingers for now, that wasn't going to solve anything. As it pained to admit it, Sandor was right. If she hadn't been trying to be a good person, she wouldn't have received that in her own face. But she didn’t understand Daenerys’ move. Why had she done that? Why had she needed to point at her like that?

They were trapped, nobody knew where they were and they didn't know who had closed them up there. That was much more interesting that pointing fingers at each other. She was nervous. She was scared. She was hiding it pretty well, she had learned to hide when she was nervous and scared, sadly. She had woken up in a strange room with no memory about how she had arrived there, how could she not be nervous? She was human, after all. Brienne's face showed that she was nervous, she couldn't hide it. Tywin's face was... strange, but he didn't look scared. Could he look scared at all? She had to admit that seeing him had calmed her a little bit, as he was a known face and he was powerful, even if he triggered a lot of bad memories. Sandor looked angry all the time, so who could know what he was feeling. Daenerys was trying to hide her nerves behind her arrogance, and she was doing a nice job at it.

"I'm Brienne, and I'm a wrestler. Like, professionally," Brienne jumped into the conversation again after a brief silence, before Sansa could answer, as if she was saving her this time. "It's nice to meet you, Sansa."

"I think we should introduce each other, as I think that we'll be spending quite some time together here," Daenerys said quickly, seeing that Brienne was feeling sympathy for Sansa. "I'm Daenerys Targaryen, and I fight against the capitalist system that is killing millions of people around the world. Who are you?"

The girl looked straight at Tywin, and Sansa wanted to laugh. She never, never ever thought that she would see something like that. Someone just asking "who are you" to Tywin Lannister, without an "excuse me, sir" or one of those pleasantries that they gave to him all the time.

"My name is of no importance if we want to get out of here, but if you insist, I am Tywin Lannister. This is Sandor Clegane, head of security of my family."

He still had it. He had always had it. With a sentence he could change the mood of a whole room, he could get everything he wanted in the world. That was why he was that rich, probably. And also because he was smart as hell. Sansa could picture him in front of whole armies, as if he was a medieval Lord. He would have been good at that, he had that demeanour, didn’t he? He could be sitting in a castle ruling a kingdom. Or more than one, maybe.

"Mr. Lannister is right, we need to get out of here," Brienne insisted. Sansa noticed that she had been pushing away her worries so deep inside her that she could have exploded in any moment if Brienne and Tywin hadn't pushed the attention of everyone on the most important thing in that moment. Getting out of there.

"What are we even doing here?" Daenerys asked. "What could we have in common to end up... Here? What if the Mastermind behind all this happens to be one of us?"

They looked at each other suspiciously. That idea was really sick, but possible: What if the Mastermind behind this was just a sick man who wanted to take a good laugh in their faces? And Daenerys was right, what did they all have in common? Why were they all inside there? That was the question, over and over again.

_ "IT'S NOT ONE OF YOU." _

A voice sounded around them through some speakers that were in the corners of the room. He was listening. Maybe he was even watching.

"He's watching us. He's looking at us..." Sansa said, feeling sick.

"What do you want?" Daenerys demanded.

_ "YOU WILL KNOW WHEN EVERYONE ARRIVES TO THE COMMON ROOM." _

They looked at each other. Not everyone was there, then. There were even more people closed inside that place. Did they have to wait? Did they have to search for them?

"Did you all get out with the water thing?" Brienne asked, reading Sansa's thoughts.

"It looks like our host wanted us to take a leap of faith with him by drinking the water that he gives us before letting us out of the room," Tywin explained. He really looked tired. Not that tiredness took away any of his grandness. When she was a teenager, she had been too focused on Jeoffrey to notice that, of course.

"It's not quite easy to trust someone who has kidnapped you," Sansa commented, and saw acknowledgement in Tywin's face. "I'm going to see if there is food around here, we will eventually need it."

"Sandor, go with her," Tywin commanded as Sansa was turning to go. Sandor grunted (again) and walked with her to the kitchen. She was listening how they were deciding to take another look around the place when Sandor suddenly talked.

"So you don't remember me." He didn't seem hurt or concerned. Sansa started thinking. She knew now that he was head of security for the Lannisters, but she didn't remember seeing him around.

"No, sorry, but I don't." Sansa had to be honest with the man, she had enough on her plate right now to, on top of it, go around trying to lie. She knew that she should remember him, as he probably was around the Lannister house when she was dating Jeoffrey, but she had erased lots of memories from that time.

"Don't worry, you were probably too busy," Sandor answered.

"I would prefer not to talk about that." She felt a weight inside her stomach. Memories from those years were flooding her, making the already horrible situation even worse.

"So... that's why you left," Sandor sighed. "I always wondered."

"What do you mean?"

"That you left so... suddenly." It looked like Sandor was not exactly used to do that much talking, and he was doing a great deal of it that day. "All I heard them say was that you were a greedy bitch, but that didn't sound right..."

"Oh, so that's what they said." They had already reached the kitchen by now. It was just a cooker, some marble surface to prepare food and a door. Sandor opened it and they saw cans and more cans of food. "Nice."

"Looks like we've got our menu set for us," he said, taking a can of tomato soup and examining it.

"We've got food, that's something," Sansa decided. They spent the rest of the time in silence as they examined and counted all the food that they had. They had enough for several months, but they didn't know how much time they would be inside that horrible place. Sansa didn't know if they should eat little just in case nobody can find them, or if they should eat at all.

She was coping. She didn't know how she was doing it, but there she was. Being strong because she just had to be. Because there was no other option, because if she was weak, she was done. She wondered if they would be able to find books, at least. Reading would be nice. She didn't want to talk to people. Who would she talk to? Sandor and Mr. Lannister were part of Jeoffrey's life, Daenerys clearly didn't like her... So that just left Brienne, who looked like a nice person with whom she would be able to have a nice conversation.

And the rest? There had to be more people.

Thank God for small mercies.

"Are you there?" Sandor asked her. "You seem to be in another planet."

"I think I-" she couldn't say that. She thought again. "I was thinking about food rationing and about how we should do it."

"Is that worth it?"

"That's what I was thinking..." they looked at each other, and he saw that, behind all that grunting and sighing, there was a person. Behind that mask that he was desperately trying to show everyone, there was a human who, right now, was probably scared. They were all scared. Even Tywin Lannister himself was scared. But none of them would say it out loud.

They decided to prepare some food after they noticed the clock on the kitchen. It was the only clock on the whole building, and it said that it was past lunch time. They were hungry and they didn't know how much time they had been sleeping, so they imagined that the rest would be hungry too. They were heating some meatballs as the rest of them arrived... With new people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your readings (and even comments!) on the first chapter. I hope you liked this one too. See you soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the voice of their kidnapper again, interrupting their lunch. He had waited until they were eating to talk to them. Every one of them seemed to be scared, even if some hid it better than others.

Tywin's face was self-explanatory. When Sansa saw Jamie walking by his side she totally understood the reason: his own son. His supposed heir. The one that nobody knew much about. Jaime Lannister, captain of the British Army, had been kidnapped too.

There was also this actres... She didn't quite remember her name in that moment, but she remembered seeing her on TV. And there was also a face that she totally recognised: Stannis Baratheon, the Welsh First Minister! How had that happened? The person who had kidnapped them inside there must have been very powerful to do that. To reach people like Tywin Lannister or Stannis Baratheon!

None of them had absolutely no idea about what was going on, and the idea that the person who had done it was a very powerful person with a long reach was really disturbing and worrying. In meant that getting out wouldn't be that easy and that probably the man who had done it could cover up his tracks pretty well.

"I hope that this is it," Tywin said, looking somber. Yes, it would be nice if he didn't find any more sons inside there. Or grandsons. Please, no.

"How did you find them? Room by room?" Sansa asked.

"Exactly," he answered. "There were no more answers, either they are sleeping late or there is nobody else."

"We found food... Do you want meatballs?"

 

They set the tables, started to eat and tried to relax a little, but in that silence nobody could really relax. There was so much tension between them. Sansa knew it to be wrong, probably that was exactly what the mastermind wanted. They should be bonding, but she also guessed that it wasn't going to be that easy.

She found out that the actress' name was Margaery, Margaery Tyrell. She was dating a prince or something like that, from what she remembered. She didn't seem to have problems with anyone, but looked at Sansa quite a lot. In a different way than Daenerys, though. Then there was Stannis Baratheon, who ended up talking to Daenerys (she asked to be called Dany), but the conversation died during the tension of the lunch.

Tywin and Jaime Lannister were sitting right next to each other and they hadn't spoken a word to each other. Not even one. Sandor, who had been quite talkative when it was just the two of them, had turned silent now, sitting right next to her. And Brienne... she was looking at Jamie, Sansa noticed about that and hoped that nobody else had. The look in her eyes was intense.

"YOU ARE ALL HERE NOW. 8 OF YOU."

It was the voice of their kidnapper again, interrupting their lunch. He had waited until they were eating to talk to them.

"FIRST: I MUST WARN YOU. YOU WILL NOT LIKE WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY."

"Asshole," Sandor muttered. Sansa's heart was racing and she looked around her. Every one of them seemed to be scared, even if some hid it better than others.

"HALF OF YOU MUST DIE, AND YOU WILL BE THE ONES TO DO IT."

Silence.

"YOU WILL KILL EACH OTHERS... BUT FIRST YOU WILL SUFFER."

More silence.     

"BUT IF YOU KILL THE WRONG PEOPLE... THEN ALL OF YOU WILL DIE."

The voice fell silent once and for all and nobody spoke for several minutes. They were all processing all the information that they had just received. Four of them "had to" die and the rest of them "had to" be the ones killing them? What was that about? What kind of crazy sick mind had thought about that? She wasn't going to kill anyone, that was pretty clear. And what was the "wrong people" thing about? There wasn't such thing as the "right people" to kill! She was starting to feel dizzy, the more she thought the worse she felt.

She felt looks around the room, she didn't dare look at anyone and kept looking at her plate. She still had some bits of meatballs left, but her stomach had shut down after the information. She didn't want to face anyone in that moment. She just wanted to cry. And her mother. She thought that she deserved her meltdown already, right? Did she? Could she show weakness, finally? Or was it still way too soon to do so? Was there too many people around her to show such weakness?

"We should go to our rooms, process this and talk later," Tywin said. He had taken the leadership of their group and it looked like nobody was going to discuss that. It was a smart move, he could be a very good leader and he looked strong enough to do the job.

"He's right," Sansa dared to say, standing up. Everyone walked to their rooms without saying not even one more word.

 

She felt that their personalities had left them, maybe it was the shock taking hold of their minds and bodies. She could recognise Tywin Lannister in the tone of his voice and in the way that he looked at the world around him, but she didn't feel the whole energy that he usually had before getting inside that bunker. She started thinking about herself and noticed that she wasn't being herself either. She felt weak, alone, hurt, scared. She felt like a mouse in a giant trap that she hadn't been able to see. She felt angry, also, at it calmer her a little to realise that she still had the ability to feel anger. That was so like her, and to be able to see herself in such a moment relaxed her a in a strange way.

Her anger wasn't like Arya's, she wasn't like her sister at all. When Arya got angry, she got loud and bloody. When Sansa got angry, nobody knew until it was too late for them. It scared her sometimes how well she could manipulate situations and how cunning she could be soemtimes. She had learnt a lot about it in the last few years. She had learnt how to fake a smile, how to fake happiness and to make everyone think that she was the sweetest girl alive and then, when you didn't see her, she could stab you on the back a thousand times, and with her smile you would swear by God that it was impossible that she had done it.

That was Sansa's anger.

Of course, she was thinking about her anger to avoid thionking about what had happened. About the message. She was pushing all those thoughts away, far from her mind and it was stupid of her to do that. The fact weren't going anywhere.

Problem Solving 101: Avoid facing the problem isn't going to magically solve it.

But thinking about the problem meant a lot of hard work that she wasn't quite ready to do.

1) Who was the person (if it could really be called such a thing) that had closed them up inside there?

2) Where were they?

3) Was there a possible way out?

4) Why had that "person" closed them up inside there?

5) Did she have to kill?

6) Would she be able to kill if she ended up being pushed into the situation of doing it?

7) Did she have to die?

8) If so, why? What had she done to deserve it?

9) Was that "person" wise enough to decide who lived and who died?

10) Who would be the one to kill her? Which one of her partners would do it?

11) Would she be brave enough to kill herself if she had to?

12) Would anyone be able to save them?

13) Was there such a bad psychiatric health in the world that a psycho like that was free?

14) ...

And there she needed to stop. And that was why she didn't think about it, because thinking about it meant making up more problems and she didn't want problems, she wanted solutions, for fuck's sake.

Sorry, mum. You're right. No swearing.

Damn, she missed her mum. The woman would be so worried about her. Dad could be like a stone if he wanted to be, but even if mom was the strongest person that she had ever seen, she had always said that she would be devastated if anything happened to her children. She hoped that Robb would take care of her.

14) Would she survive this?

 

*

 

He understood why he was there. He hadn’t been a saint. He hadn’t stopped at absolutely anything in order to be able to provide for his family. He had been heartless, if he had needed to be. He deserved to be punished. 

But his son? 

His son didn’t deserve to be punished. 

He would die. He knew that he was going to die. He had accepted that quickly enough. But he didn’t want to die before killing the man who had dared to touch his family. His blood. His legacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for the kudos, the comments and being so nice over the writing of this fanfic. I've already started drafting chapter 4, but I'll keep the posting once every two weeks as I'm really comfortable with it, and I avoid adding stress.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the characters in the bunker start knowing each others, and some of them need to start facing their own family.

"Hello father, I feel that we should talk," Jaime said, after opening the door of his room. Tywin knew that the boy (well, the man, actually, but he would always be his boy) was right, but he was not really in the mood to have this conversation. He looked at his son and, with a nod, told him to get into the room.

They hadn't seen each other since the day of the big fight. Such a cliché, it was embarrassing. Very very embarrassing. Jamie sat on the bed, Tywin was sitting on the chair, because the bed was way too comfortable to think clearly, and he needed to think about how the hell he was going to get out of there.

"I should start, I guess..." Jaime looked uncomfortable, and Tywin realised that that his boy had been thinking about this for a while. "I'm sorry. I know that both of us made mistakes, but I am tired of not speaking to you, and if apologising is all it takes, then I have no problem doing it. My pride is not a problem here."

In that moment, Tywin hated his son more than ever. He loathed him. His son was a disgrace for his legacy and for the name of his family. If everything that his son and Cersei had done ended up being known, their family would be destroyed. Cersei had been through enough, had married and he couldn't get mad at her. But Jaime? You can't just go around banging your sister and then, when your father ends up realising that, out of three kids, none of them look like the Baratheons, just tell him that you don't want to get married to anyone.

You just shut up and get married, and that's it. And you protect the name. Keep banging your sister if you want, but protect the name. Always protect the name of the family. Jeoffrey was capable enough of destroying it all by himself (would that kid ever grow up?), they didn't need anyone else. But Jaime had decided to run away. He had been in the army for a while, and he had really disappeared on it after that day.

"Will you get married? Or at least a public girlfriend for everyone to look at?" Tywin asked, sternly.

"Dad, you know that I can't do that." Because Jaime loved Cersei. Yes, both of them knew that. Even if Cersei had always done whatever she wanted with Jaime, and even Tywin saw that in his own daughter. He did it a lot, the pretending that he didn't see things that he was clearly seeing.

"Then I have no idea why we are talking," Tywin answered, standing up and pacing around the room. This room made him nervous. It was so small that he wasn't able to pace around it calmly.

"We are talking because, as bad as this is, maybe it's a chance for us to talk again. Wait, wait, let me finish," Jaime stopped his father, as he saw that the man was going to answer again. He needed to say this, so Tywin listened, for once in his life. "I can't get married to anyone else, but I won't touch Cersei ever again."

What was that good for? No, really, they already had three kids together, what was not touching her again good for, now? Tywin sat back on his chair, breathing deeply and, in that moment, not knowing that to do. They may not get out of there alive. They could die there. But... Nothing had changed in Jaime, and he didn't know if he could see past that. He needed time. He didn't know if they had time. He wanted Jaime to get out of there, to be free, to keep living his life away from them. He was mad at the man who had dared to touch his son, and if he ever found him he would torture him before killing him, but that didn’t mean that he was happy with the life choices of his son.

He wasn't looking at him, but he felt Jaime standing up, and he felt the hand on his shoulder. He heard him say that he loved him. He saw him leaving and closing the door behind him. Have children, they said. They are a blessing, they said.

_ (What he didn’t say to anyone, what he didn’t admit not even to himself, was that all he needed was Joanna, and that if Joanna had been there with him all those years, if Joanna hadn’t left him after Tyrion’s birth, his life would have been easier. That he had been carrying the world on his shoulders for years, and he was tired of not being able to share it with anyone.) _

 

*

 

The days went by really slowly and, sometimes, painfully. Little by little, they started knowing each other. Sansa saw Stannis emerging little by little, getting stronger every day. One day, they had bathroom duty together (yes, they had taken some of their time to organise who was going to cook and clean stuff, because some of them didn't want to live surrounded by dirt). So, they had bathroom duty together and he started talking about his daughter, Shireen. He seemed to love her more than anything in the whole world, and it made her think a little about her own father. Stannis wanted to see his daughter, and he had even told Sansa that she reminded of her a little. That was something nice to hear.

What surprised her is that he was actually Robert Baratheon's brother. He was Jeoffrey's uncle. And she had never met him! She had been going every single week to have dinner at least once a week to the Baratheon-Lannister's house and she had never, ever known about Stannis. In fact, she wouldn't have known that they were brothers if she hadn't noticed his face. She looked slightly like Robert. Sansa was smart enough not to ask just yet.

She also felt the tension growing over the lunch and dinner tables, as both Tywin and Stannis were strong men without strong leading voices. Sansa could feel a battle there, over them. Of course, she dedicated her energy to observe and analyse the situation around her, saving her strengths. She didn't want to shine, she didn't need to shine, and she suspected that deep down neither Tywin Lannister nor Stannis Baratheon wanted to shine either. They just felt a strong need of leading things and having everything under control. Sansa tried to put herself on their shoes: they had both seen their world collapse and, as strong leading men, they needed something to replace that. Sansa didn't need that, she had enough with feeling respected by everyone else so nobody tried to mess with her.

But there was Daenerys. She wasn't making it so obvious now, because she saw that the group was going in a different direction, but it was very clear that she didn't like her. Brienne and Margaery took her side and stood by her side most of the time, and even Jaime Lannister had supported her sometimes. Now Daenerys was just giving her angry looks from time to time. Sansa didn't speak a lot, but when she gave her opinion, she saw that people valued her opinion. Like, when they were talking about sorting the tasks, Sansa said that maybe they should swap the pairs to avoid working always by the same person. Brienne agreed instantly, and then Margaery said that it was smart to build a stronger group. Everyone else simply agreed.

She learnt then that she needed to hide better to avoid being noticed in the group.

She also needed to learn more about Sandor. And about Tywin himself. Because she had problems reading them both. They were both so different, but so similar in that sense. Sandor felt like a shield around her. She felt as if he was trying to protect her, but she couldn't actually be sure about it. She saw that he was usually close by when she was alone, or when she was alone with someone else. She couldn't understand why he remained vigilant, maybe he felt that he owed something to her after what happened with Jeoffrey. Probably that was it, that he hadn't realised what had been going on and, now that he knew, he felt like protecting her.

And she also felt weird about the way that Tywin looked at her sometimes. She was also expecting from him something different, as he was after all Jeoffrey's grandfather, she was really not expecting to have his support on the table. He had even said "Sansa is right" a couple times. She had almost had a heart attack the very first time. He was really so different from the Tywin Lannister she thought she remembered. She remembered a dark, tall protective figure over Jeoffrey and, of course, Cersei. Now she was seeing something else, but she couldn't explain it. She would've sworn that he would try to destroy her, but now she suspected that he had some other thoughts in his mind.

She was tired.

She needed some sleep.

 

*

 

Margaery felt so lonely. The days were long. Unstoppable. She was starting to sleep way too much. She spoke to Brienne quite a lot lately, and that took part of the pain away. Margaery didn't understand how could someone like Brienne be there, who could be sick enough to close such a kind, innocent soul inside a cage. And also, Sansa. Sansa was the most beautiful, smart, mature person that she had ever met and it didn't make any sense either to see her there.

Margaery was trying to fit in. They didn't know how long they would be inside there, and she guessed that trying to get along with everyone was a smart move. She also saw that Sansa was trying to move in that direction, but there was a lot of tension in the air.

Margaery was a famous actress and she couldn't think of what she could have done to get inside there. There was this little thing, but that couldn't be it, right? Nobody even knew about that, and it didn't have anything to do with the rest of people who were inside that place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really, really thankful that some of you are coming in here to read every single chapter. It's unbelievable to me. Thank you so much, I'll try to do my best :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Living together and such strong characters make things explode... eventually.

"Guys, I've been thinking... How can we know who are the ones supposed to die?"

When Brienne, always so innocent Brienne, asked that question, she didn't imagine the path that the conversation would take, and she had never pictured in her head that she would see that kind of argument on the table. Maybe she thought that, as adults that they were supposed to be, they would be able to talk things calmly.

As if.

But let's see the whole scene, as it went by, because it was truly something worth watching. Quality entertainment. First, there was silence, everyone was digesting the question and maybe thinking about it. Nobody said just the first thing that they thought. Sansa was going to speak, but she decided to listen.

"Maybe we should really think about our lives and... secrets," Daenerys looked around the table, maybe trying to find support.

"There is no person who hasn't got a secret. If that's it, we are all guilty here." That was Stannis, who kept chewing his food, slowly and calmly.

"Not all secrets are the same," Margaery said, mostly thinking out loud.

"But who is going to just come here and spill out all their secrets? If it's true that we all have things to hide, we are not just going to tell things that we don't want anyone to know," Daenerys was being reasonable now. But there was something else bothering Sansa.

"We are talking life and death here," Stannis sentenced. "Our lives and our deaths."

"Nobody should die here." Sansa couldn't stop herself anymore, she was shocked that nobody had said that yet and she had to. Really? Nobody saw that?

"It doesn't seem to be any other way out," Daenerys commented, looking innocent and taking Stannis' side.

"Sansa is right. We wait. Nobody should die here."

That was Tywin. He had been silent for the whole conversation, which had been strange, because when they started to talk about death, dying, and the whole plan that the psycho had made to keep them inside there he was quick to cut the bad thoughts and keeping them together. But he had finally spoken.

"And how do you suggest that we survive here forever? Food will eventually disappear." Stannis fought back, and now he had stopped eating.

"I didn't talk about a strategy to get out. I just pointed out that there was only one person talking some sense here." Tywin's voice was calm, but Sansa could see that he was about to lose his temper. He was controlling himself. But... the table didn't like his comment.

"You keep defending the girl, what's the issue? Do you want to bang her?" Stannis was accusing now, bitterness in his voice. "That's your secret? You wanna bang your grandson's ex?"

"How you dare-" Jaime started, standing up, anger all over his face. Tywin stopped it instantly, a hand over his arm.

"Stop. We don't need to sink to such a lower level." Tywin's face was stone cold. "Some of us still have some respect for the rest of the people on this table."

And he wasn't talking about himself, of course. He was talking about Sansa. he wanted to ask Sansa if she had been hurt by the comment that Stannis had made, but he would never do that and Sansa would never know that he wanted to. He stood up and left. Jaime left too, but not before looking straight into Stannis' eyes for some solid seconds that felt like hours for the rest of them, that was the kind of ugly tension that was in the air.

Then, they looked at Sansa. Stannis then opened his mouth, and he seemed to realise what he had done. She stopped him.

"I'm not angry. But I didn't expect that, and I know what to expect now." She stood up. "I guess we will end up seeing our true colours here."

Sansa left the room, and Jaime waited until she was out of hearing range to speak again. He was way too angry and he was also trying to process his thoughts. He wanted to grab Stannis and punch him in the face, but that was his instinct, not his brain. His brain was telling him to be smarter than that.

"I hadn't seen you in years, Stannis. And now I'm starting to know why Robert never told you to join us," he commented.

"Robert always explains a good story," Stannis answered full of bitterness. Jaime felt like walking off, but he wouldn't let that man win. He wanted to keep his territory.

"Seeing what you just did... Yes, he does." Jaime smiled at him as he said that, another dagger on Stannis. The rest of the table was silent, they didn't dare to say a word. Brienne was regretting ever opening her mouth. Daenerys was seeing that trouble was in, and she seemed to be comfortable with it. And Sandor-

"You're all idiots."

That was Sandor, who did dare to speak his mind. He stood up, grunted, and left.

"By the way, you are so smart that you are giving the Mastermind exactly what it wants," Jaime pointed out, looking back at Stannis. Seens that he didn't answer, he continued. "Why do you think that some of us have not started to interrogate each others? Because that's what he wants."

"We are closed inside here anyway, we may as well know why," Stannis answered.

"So that's what you think? That we will know why we are here if we know each other's secrets? Each other's dirt?" Jaime nodded, frowning. "In my world, making a team is what makes you win."

"I agree with him," Brienne said. Jaime looked at her, surprised. Brienne never talked much, and never during a strong argument. That wasn't the first one that they had on the table, but it was a pretty solid one. "I mean... We should cooperate and work all together."

"You are always so nice, Brienne," Margaery said with a smile, trying to support her friend. Brienne smiled back at her, thankful. The air felt better now, less charged with all that tension that they had felt before.

 

*

 

Sansa heard a knock on the door. She told whoever was there that it was open, and she saw Jaime Lannister behind it. She nodded and he closed the door behind him.

"Are you okay?" he didn't wait much to ask, he knew that it was pointless. He was there to ask her how she was, what was the point of just waiting to tell that? "I didn't expect it to get so ugly."

"It shouldn't be you here, it was hardly your fault..." Sansa told him.

"It's just that, I don't know-" he said, sitting on the chair and looking at Sansa, who was sitting on the bed comfortably. "You spoke sense. You spoke the truth. What's wrong with them?"

"Maybe they didn't like that." Sansa had learnt that a lot of people didn't like the hard ugly truth, that was usually she just kept herself silent and listened, because it made her life easier. Except when it came to life and death, in those moments she couldn't be in silence and she needed her voice to be heard.

"What surprised me was..." Jaime started speaking, and stopped himself, maybe thinking about how he wanted to say what he wanted to say. "My father has become so protective over you, it's strange. I guess you are family"

"What do you mean?" Sansa asked, feeling weird. She felt that way around that topic lately. She wanted that topic to be kept as a taboo, thank you very much.

"Well, I've never seen the man protect anyone that he doesn't consider family. What I wanted to say is that... We are not blind." Sansa didn't like the path that the conversation was taking, where Jaime was really trying to get, and started to feel really nervous now. "We all know that Jeoffrey is not a saint."

"That wasn't what I saw the day that I decided to leave."

Sansa remembered and would always remember how that day went. She leaving the house for the last time. Jeoffrey shouting at her. Whore. Bitch. You'll go on your knees for anyone. You'll throw yourself at the first rich guy you meet. You'll come back crying. You'll never do better than me. Nobody will want you after they see the whore you are. Robert, drinking in the kitchen, silent as always. Cersei, smirking at her and looking at her son, so proud of him, a cup of wine on her hand. Her father, Tywin Lannister sitting at the head of the table, looking at the scene with a deep frown.

"Cersei is very protective of her son... And maybe that blinded her. I'll give you that. But the rest of us saw what happened you, and actually expected you to leave much sooner." Jaime looked sad now, and he was looking at his own hands instead of looking at her.

"None of you ever said anything..." Sansa didn't trust her own voice to say anything else in that moment.

"And we see our mistake now, I can assure you that. But we never expected it to get that bad. For all it's worth... I'm sorry I didn't say anything. He's my family, I should have controlled him."

"Thank you, I... I think I would like to be alone, now," Sansa needed the loneliness. She needed to cry, and she needed to be alone to do that properly. She needed to scratch herself until her arms started bleeding. She needed the pain that stopped the memories, because, honestly, she was having enough trouble being kidnapped and she didn't need to have her memories thrown back at her.

Jaime put a hand over her shoulder and told her that he would be around if she ever needed him, and then he left. Sansa looked at the door for a long, long time, tears running through her cheeks. trying not to scratch, trying not to hurt herself to take away the pain.

 

*

 

While he was observing the setting he realised that, maybe, the team needed a little push. Maybe, just maybe, they needed a little help.

And didn't he love to help others? That was his jam. He was all about the help, all about the love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This comes a day late, I know! Sorry! Holidays have been weird for me. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Thank you so much for being there, for reading it, for your comments and everything.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group tries to team-up a little bit. Maybe they really need it.

"We lost our heads yesterday, and I want to start this lunch by apologising for my behaviour." Stannis was the first to talk. They had kept their timetables even after what happened, and Jaime and Daenerys had prepared their lunch.

People had not been talking a lot since that big argument, and it felt weird. They already had enough by being kidnapped, they didn't need to add bullying each others to the mix. "Mr. Lannister, I would like to apologise for my words yesterday."

"I accept your apology." Tywin said, cold and sharp. Then, everyone started to look at both Stannis and... Sansa. Obviously they were expecting Stannis to apologise to Sansa too. Finally, he took the hints that the whole table gave him and, with a much more pained expression, he apologised to Sansa too.

"It's okay," Sansa answered, not wanting the attention on her.

"No, it's not," Tywin said. Sansa, and probably Jaime, though oh, crap. There we go again. Why did he have to do that. But, Tywin was going on a different path. "We haven't been sharp enough, probably due to our shock. None of us were expecting to get kidnapped, and it has probably affected our senses, our reactions."

"What do you mean with that?" Stannis seemed really curious about it, he wasn't even slightly attacking. The rest of the table was just listening to the conversation, maybe wanting to be guided.

"We haven't even talked about the last thing that we remember before waking up in here. We could try to find a pattern," Tywin explained. Seeing that nobody else wanted to take a turn at speaking, he continued. "I am not interested in your secrets, as I expect that you are not interested in mine. Because I am not going to just feed you with information that could hurt me -or my family. I fail to understand how that could help us get out of here."

"And how could that help us?" Stannis asked. "For example, I was sleeping. At home. I went to bed, and I woke up here. I fail to see how that helps us."

"I was also sleeping," Daenerys was fast to support Stannis. "Yes this won't take us anywhere."

"I remember smelling something weird," Margaery said, and she got the attention of everyone. "I can't explain what it smelled like, but I remember that it wasn't what my house usually smells like."

"That's interesting," Tywin commented, and Margaery smiled, pleased with the compliment. "He could have poisoned the air, now we know something else."

"I... I remember something, but maybe I dreamed it."

That was Brienne. "I've been thinking that I probably dreamed it, all these days..."

"What's that? Please, talk," Tywin pushed her. Brienne didn't feel well about it, but she saw how Jaime looked at his father, with a frown, and felt better. Maybe he was defending her. Maybe. They hadn't crossed more than a few words, but maybe that was it. She didn't need much more than that to feel good.

"I remember starting to wake up... and seeing the walls opening. A dark figure noticed. It was dark and blurry. He drugged me and I fell asleep again."

"How is it possible? Didn't the poison affect you?"

"She's huge, maybe that explains it," Sandor grumbled.

"Cut it, Clegane."

And that was Jaime. Brienne blushed. Sansa noticed, and she looked at Margaery, who, seeing her face, had also noticed. Maybe those little things would save them.

"Wait," Sansa spoke for the second time during lunch. "you said the walls opened?"

"Well... Maybe it was a door, but it didn't look like that."

"ISN'T IT NICE, YOU KIDS TRYING TO GET ALONG".

They hadn't heard that damned voice for a whole week. None of them were specially eager to hear it again. Sansa felt a shiver on her back.

"ONE OF YOU IS VERY GOOD AT BEING SILENT. BEING SILENT ABOUT CRIMES. BEING SILENT WHEN YOU SEE IT HAPPENING AROUND YOU. BEING SILENT ABOUT EVERYTHING. AREN'T YOU, SANSA STARK?"

All of them looked at her. Daenerys murmured something about her father on Stannis' ear, who nodded. She felt Tywin's look on her, but it wasn't accusing her. He was trying, in his own way, to support her. Sandor said something along the lines of "shut the fuck up you bastard", but he seemed angry enough for his words not to be understood clearly. If Sansa hadn't been so nervous and scared, she would have been able to see that there was people taking her side.

"YOU TELL THEM, ON YOUR OWN WAY, OR I WILL, AND I WON'T BE NICE ABOUT IT. YOU HAVE ONE DAY."

The room fell silent, and they were expecting Sansa to speak. She was trying to keep her nerver under control, so that her voice would not fail her. She couldn't believe it. It wasn't about her family, it was nothing about her family. Her father was a saint. Her mother was a saint. Her siblings were the most beautiful thing on Earth. It was really not about that. She knew what it was about.

"You don't need to-" Jaime started to say.

"No, I will. That's okay."

Even those two little sentences had been difficult to say. Well, Sansa, time to control yourself.

"We won't play by his rules," that was Tywin, now. He looked angry, and it was such a scary thing to see. “We will find a way around it, but we are not sheep he can tame.”

"You know what? I agree with you, Lannister. This is what a bully sounds like. Sansa, you don't need to explain a thing." Stannis really looked concerned now. And Sansa suspected why. Even if she was trembling because she had been exposed, she could see that Stannis', Jaime's and even Tywin's reasons weren't all just nice and friendly. 

If Sansa exposed herself, it meant that they would be exposed too. And Sansa knew that. And, probably, two of them, Tywin and Jaime, were concerned because they knew that their own secrets involved their very own Joffrey. And that was even worse.

 

*

 

They decided to go and rest for a while. Sandor was feeling caged, and he decided to try and force some of the doors that were closed, to see if they could find something other than water and food. They were starting to need something else to keep themselves busy. They had found some books, yes, but that was not even close to enough. So that was how he kept himself busy.

Jaime had suggested that they could do some exercise in the mornings, and some of them did it: they ran around the Bunker , following their own rhythms, and that way they moved a little.

It had been more than a week. For the world, they were dead. She imagined what her parents, her brothers and sister would think. Were they already mourning them? Were they looking for them? Would they ever give up on them? Was there a way out? 

Sansa cried every single night, as a way to release energy and emotions. It was the only way to keep herself composed the rest of the day. She suspected that each of them had their own way to keep their minds clear. It was all about building a solid routine. Keeping it one dat at time. But one thing bugged her.

Would she ever be the same? Would they ever be? After that experience, if they made it out alive, would they be able to be themselves again? She didn't know, really. She was feeling things and having thoughts that she never thought she would have. Dark, ugly thoughts, back in her mind and stronger than ever. She needed to write about it, as there was not a single soul around that she could talk to about it. But she didn't have a pen, or paper.

There was really not much in that Bunker. Even if she was hearing Sandor's kicks on doors and walls, she knew that there was nothing that they could find. Maybe that was the idea. To make them go mad. To make them fight each others. To make someone so desperate that they would end up killing each others. Who could be sick and mad enough to plan something like that? Who could be behind all of it? It could never be a regular person, right? Not someone that you see every day on the street. But then again, everyone seems normal if you don’t know them.

The door of her room opened.

"You really do not remember me," it was Daenerys. "You are even more selfish and self-centered that I had ever imagined."

Sansa felt like she had been slapped. 

“No, I really don’t…” She was trying really, really hard to remember. Where had she seen her? What had she done? What had happened? 

“Just what I imagined. You take yourself in such a high importance that you don’t even think about the rest of us. University? Do you remember me now? In your first year, the Oktoberfest party?”

While Daenerys was looking at her with a sad smile, she remembered everything. All the sad, painful images that the alcohol took away appeared. It was during the last months of her relationship with Joffrey, they broke up (she left him) the next december. Basically, Sansa couldn’t remember 90% of her last months with him -that was how much she was drinking, or just drifting away. Just losing herself in her own thoughts, disappearing from the world. Some people do it in a nice, healthy way. She wasn’t healthy at all during that time. Her drifting away wasn’t healthy. She got lost during minutes. Hours, even. Suddenly, she didn’t know where she was or how had she gotten there. All that started to go away when she left Joffrey. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, thank you so much for reading this. Also, thank you for your comments, as they are really helping me see what can I do better and what you expect from this when you read.   
> Finally, I just want to warn you that May is going to be a complicated month full of work, and chapters 7 and 8 may get delayed a little bit. If that happens, sorry! I'll do my best.


End file.
